WSJ editor claims that drunk women share equal blame as their rapist

We examine the media's coverage of the Stubenville rape trials and the way people view victims of sexual assault and domestic violence.

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Sexual assault and rape is an ongoing epidemic in the United States and around the world and it doesn't look like it's slowing down anytime soon. According to an editor of the Wall Street Journal, the blame of a sexual attack should be placed at the door of both the victim and the attacker.

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When a female is attacked or taken advantage of, she is often the victim of the blame game. Many place the blame on the victim, pointing to her intoxication or style of clothes for the reason she was unfairly attacked in the first place. In his column written for the Wall Street Journal on February 10, editor James Taranto doubled down on these claims, stating that if both parties are intoxicated, they both were "technically guilty of sexually assaulting each other."

"If two drunk drivers are in a collision, one doesn't determine fault on the basis of demographic details such as each driver's sex. But when two drunken college students "collide," the male one is almost always presumed to be at fault. His diminished capacity owing to alcohol is not a mitigating factor, but her diminished capacity is an aggravating factor for him.

As the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education notes, at some campuses the accuser's having had one drink is sufficient to establish the defendant's guilt ... In theory that means, as FIRE notes, that "if both parties are intoxicated during sex, they are both technically guilty of sexually assaulting each other." In practice it means that women, but not men, are absolved of responsibility by virtue of having consumed alcohol."

Reports of sexual assault on college campuses have increased over the years, but it's not just isolated to higher education. Sexual assaults in the military has increased drastically, up 50 percent in 2013. To blame the victim is a poor excuse. While drinking and doing drugs is a personal choice that often puts both men and women in bad situations, no one should be taken advantage of no matter what mental state they are in at the time.

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Robert Sobel is an avid political junkie and full time writer. In over three years with Examiner.com, Robert has received over 10 million pages views, reaching people from all over the world. His work has been promoted by Yahoo, Google, Bing and U.S. News, and acknowledged by celebrities such as Cher and Rosanne Barr.